Date Posted: Monday, September 29, 2003

The Science Of Qira'ah (Recitation)

Being the literal word of God, the Qur'an was the object of the greatest reverence among Muslims. It continues to be so to the present day. Naturally, to recite it correctly is the first prerequisite of the man of learning as well as of the worshipper. The first discipline to develop in this regard was 'Ilm al Qira'ah, the science of reading or reciting the Qur'an. The word qari' (reader or reciter) is an honorific title. The Prophet had approved a number of variant recitations, according to accents and dialects of some of the tribes of Arabia, but he ruled that the standard was that of Quraysh. Consequently, a number of recitation traditions developed following the variants permitted by the Prophet. To distinguish between them, and to recite according to the Quraysh standard, was the first discipline. The traditions included the recitations of 'Abdullah ibn Kathir (120/737), 'Asim ibn Abu al Nujud (I 27/744), 'Abdullah ibn 'Amir (118/736), 'Ali ibn Hamzah (189/804), Abu 'Amr ibn al 'Ala' (155/771), Hamzah ibn Habib (156/772), and Nafi' ibn Abu Nu'aym (169/785). Their knowledge remained an oral tradition passed from teacher to pupil, generation after generation. The oldest written record came at the turn of the fourth century A.H., 240 when Muhammad ibn Qasim al Anbari (328/939) wrote his Al Idah ft' al Waqf wal lbtida' Ibn al Sayrafi (444/1052) wrote Al Taysir fi al Qira'at al Sab, Jami` 'al Bayan, and Mufradat al Qira’at, thus establishing the oral tradition as a science. It has been alleged by the uninstructed that the seven variant recitations constitute several versions of the Qur'an. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The "seven" are not even dialects, though some of the variations are due to dialects. They are little linguistic indulgences that the Prophet permitted in order to ease the recitation for those whose upbringing made the Qurayshi pronunciation of some words difficult.

The Science Of Asbab Al Nuzul (The Contexts Of Revelation)

The second science to develop out of Qur'anic study, was 'Ilm Asbab al Nuzul (the historical contexts of revelation). In learning the Qur'an the Muslims realized that it is not possible to understand the word of God without knowledge of the time in which it was revealed, of the circumstances that brought it about, and of the real situations it had addressed. All revelation is contextual, situational. Even when revelation speaks of God and His angels and the heavenly kingdom, it is so that humans may recognize and acknowledge Him as their Creator and Lord. This does not make the revelation relative to history, but related to it, the relative and the relational being disparate. The absolute, which is the opposite of the relative, may well be relational. The Qur'an is absolute since it is the will of God and His word; but it is relational to the world and history since it addresses the world.

The asbab al nuzul, causes or occasions of revelation, add considerably to our understanding of any verse, and for verses carrying a judgment, an imperative or a sanction, knowledge of them is crucial. This is an autonomous science, for which grammatical, linguistic, and lexicological analyses are necessary, but which goes beyond them. The discipline depended upon the oral tradition and applied all the known canons of critique to ascertain authenticity of the reports it received. It accepted those traditions that had been witnessed and reported by several channels. The variants were checked against one another, compared with the form aspects of the reports. Assuming their relation to the Qur'anic verses in question, the resultant meanings obtained were compared and contrasted with similar verses and their certain contexts of revelation.

'Ali ibn Ahmad al Wahidi, (427/1035) was the first to collect and systematize bits of information and data scattered in numerous volumes dealing with the Qur'an as well as other subjects, under the title Asbab al Nuzul. The same title was used by Jalaluddin al Suyuti (911/1505) for his work to which he prefixed the words "Lubab al Nuqul. "  The expanded title alerted the reader that the work was only a selection from the available data. Ibrahim al Ja'bari (732/133 1) and Ibn Hajar al 'Asqalani (852/1448) wrote books on asbab al nuzul. The greatest amount of pertinent materials, however, was included in the books of exegesis. Despite this fact, the contexts of revelation remained an autonomous science distinct from exegesis.

The Science Of Makki and Madini (Historical Criticism)

The Sciences Of Tafsir (Exegesis)

The Sciences of the Qur'an : Istinbat Al Ahkam